MILAN, April 30 — Serie A leaders Inter Milan could be crowned champions of Italy this weekend when they take on Parma at the San Siro, as a brewing referee scandal threatens the integrity of Italy’s top flight.

Holding a 10-point lead over Napoli, who are at Champions League chasers Como on Saturday evening, Inter need just one win in their final four matches to secure a 21st league title and third in six seasons.

But when Inter fans take to their seats on Sunday evening, their Scudetto celebrations might already be underway, if Napoli lose to Como and AC Milan – 12 points back in third – fail to win at Sassuolo on Sunday afternoon.

Parma have nothing to play for and should be easy meat for Inter, but the same could have been said last weekend when the league leaders threw away a two-goal lead to draw at mid-table Torino.

In reality, both Napoli and Milan’s remaining realistic target is sealing qualification to the Champions League.

Napoli would do just that if they beat Como and Roma then failed to win against Fiorentina on Monday night.

Napoli are eight points ahead of both fifth-placed Como and Roma, who sit sixth, with that pair trying to sneak into the top four in the final weeks of the campaign.

Como and Roma are three points behind Juventus, who sit in the fourth and final Champions League qualification spot, with Milan a further three points ahead.

Calcio in crisis

But overshadowing the on-pitch action is a scandal in which the head of referees for Serie A and Serie B is being investigated by prosecutors in Milan for the crime of “sporting fraud”.

Gianluca Rocchi suspended himself on Sunday after the news broke that he, VAR chief Andrea Gervasoni and two others were suspected of the same offence, which carries a maximum prison sentence of six years.

The 52-year-old Rocchi will not speak to prosecutors at a hearing on Thursday, but Gervasoni will be questioned over accusations that the selection of referees has, in some instances, been piloted and that VAR officials have received outside communication from both him and Rocchi on what decisions to make.

Another official, Daniele Paterna, is accused of giving false testimony on an incident in which Rocchi is suspected of banging on the door of the VAR room to get him to change his ruling on a handball offence during Udinese’s 1-0 win over Parma in March last year.

Rocchi is also suspected of having decided on the selection of Andrea Colombo as the referee for Inter Milan’s 1-0 defeat at Bologna in April last year as he was “liked by Inter”.

Gervasoni, according to a report from daily La Repubblica, is suspected of having instructed a VAR official to make sure that a penalty was not given to Inter for a foul on Yann Bisseck during their 1-0 home defeat to Roma, which was also played last April.

Napoli ended up winning the league title by a single point ahead of Inter.

Five matches are under suspicion, none from the current season, and all five people officially under investigation are match officials, with no one from any football club as yet in prosecutors’ sights.

But a drawn-out scandal is the last thing Italian football needs after the national team’s catastrophic failure to reach the World Cup for the third time in succession, with the country’s football federation not set to elect a new president until late June. — AFP

Fixtures (times GMT/ MYT)

Friday

Pisa v Lecce (1845 GMT/ 0245 Sat MYT)

Saturday

Udinese v Torino (1400 GMT/ 2200 MYT), Como v Napoli (1600 GMT/ 0000 Sun MYT), Atalanta v Genoa (1845 GMT/ 0245 Sun MYT)

Sunday

Bologna v Cagliari (1030 GMT/ 1830 MYT), Sassuolo v AC Milan (1300 GMT/ 2100 MYT), Juventus v Verona (1600 GMT/ 0000 Mon MYT), Inter Milan v Parma (1845 GMT/ 0245 Mon MYT)

Monday

Cremonese v Lazio (1630 GMT/ 0030 Tue MYT), Roma v Fiorentina (1845 GMT/ 0245 Tue MYT)

MILAN, April 27 — Inter Milan’s charge to the Serie A title was held up on Sunday after they threw away a two-goal lead to only draw 2-2 at Torino, while a goalless draw between AC Milan and Juventus left the Champions League race open.

Leading just after the hour mark through two headed goals from Marcus Thuram and Yann Bisseck, Inter looked set to stroll to victory in Turin.

But Giovanni Simeone got Torino back into the match out of nowhere in the 70th minute when he dinked a finish over Yann Sommer, and Nikola Vlasic earned the hosts a point from the penalty spot nine minutes later.

“You think everything is easy and that you have everything under control when you’re two goals ahead. Then you concede to make it 2-1 because of a mistake while playing out from the back and you get nervous,” Inter coach Cristian Chivu said.

“To be honest it could have been worse.”

Sunday’s draw should only be a bump in the road for Inter who will secure a 21st league crown if they beat Parma at the San Siro next weekend.

With four games left in the season, Inter are 10 points ahead of their nearest challengers Napoli, who won the Scudetto last year.

Chivu’s side will be heavy favourites to seal the deal next weekend in front of their home support as Parma are a team with nothing left to play for this season.

Inter are also on for a domestic double after coming back from two goals down to win a thrilling Italian Cup semi-final with Como on Tuesday.

San Siro stalemate

The battle for a top-four spot looks set to go down to the wire following a drab match at the San Siro which left Milan and Juventus looking over their shoulders.

Juve sit fourth and are three points ahead of both Como, 2-0 winners at Genoa earlier on Sunday, and sixth-placed Roma.

Milan are three points ahead of Juve in third and should have a big enough gap separating them from Como and Roma to return to the Champions League after going without European football this season.

One of the biggest matches of any Serie A season was played out in front of a punchy atmosphere in which Milan’s hardcore fans protested a sharp rise in the cost of tickets.

Before kick-of a section of supporters used the torches on their phones to spell out “EUR139” – the cost of a ticket in the traditional cheap seats behind the goal – with a banner underneath which read “for a fairer, working-class football”.

Milan’s hardcore ultras blasted what they consider “a form of legalised touting” in which fans are encouraged to sell on their season tickets via a club platform in exchange for 60 per cent of the resale value in the form of a voucher for future ticket purchases.

There was more action in the stands than on the pitch as Milan and Juve slugged it out in a match which featured precious little artistry.

Khephren Thuram thought he had put Juve ahead in the 36th minute when he slid home Francisco Conceicao’s low cross, but his goal was ruled out for offside.

Four minutes later Conceicao shot straight at Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan after jinking his way into the area, while Alexis Saelemaekers had the hosts’ best chance shortly after half-time when he clattered the crossbar from close range.

Substitute Dusan Vlahovic nearly scored his first goal since November in stoppage time when he flashed across a low shot which Maignan kept out with his boot, and that was that from a forgettable encounter. — AFP

English and Italian football giants Manchester City, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Juventus will square up for pre-season friendlies in Hong Kong in August, the clubs announced on Tuesday.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, currently arm-wrestling Arsenal for the Premier League title, will take on Inter Milan on Saturday, August 1, spearheaded by their Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland.

The match will kick off the “Hong Kong Football Festival” at the city’s futuristic 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium.

The gleaming arena opened a year ago, featuring a roof that can be closed and air-conditioning to combat the fierce summer heat and humidity in Hong Kong.

Chelsea will play Juventus on Wednesday, August 5, to round off the mini-tournament.

Inter, under former Romanian international Cristian Chivu, are eight points clear at the top of Serie A as they look for a 21st title, second only to Juventus who have won a record 36 Italian top-flight championships.

Juventus are fourth and looking to secure a Champions League spot under Luciano Spalletti.

Chelsea beat PSG to win the Club World Cup in the United States last year but have since parted company with then manager Enzo Maresca.

Liam Rosenior took charge but is under pressure to keep his job after Chelsea lost five of their last six Premier League matches to drop to sixth, seven points adrift of the Champions League places.

It remains to be seen whether Rosenior will still be in charge when Chelsea land in Hong Kong as they were also drubbed 8-2 on aggregate by PSG in the Champions League last 16.

All the teams will hold open training sessions ahead of the matches giving Hong Kong fans an extra chance to see star players such as City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, Inter’s Lautaro Martinez and Juventus’s Dusan Vlahovic.

The action does not stop there for fans in the football-mad southern Chinese city, as Bayern Munich and Aston Villa have already announced they will play a friendly in Hong Kong on Friday, August 7.

During pre-season last year, 50,000 sell-out crowds in Hong Kong watched Liverpool play AC Milan and Tottenham face Arsenal in the first north London derby outside of the UK.

Tens of thousands also turned out to watch the teams’ open training sessions.

When he was a child, Antonio Najarro, 50, would skate from his home to the Conservatory. His calling was dance, and he pursued it until becoming a leading figure in Spanish dance and flamenco, eventually directing the National Ballet of Spain from 2011 to 2019. He had no idea back then that skating would become another way of shaping and spreading dance. He didn’t even fully grasp it in 2002, when he received his first request to create a choreography for the French Olympic skaters Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, who had spent some time in Andalusia working with other flamenco creators — apparently without much success. “It seemed very difficult to me. Flamenco is so rooted in the earth that doing it on ice felt almost crazy. But curiosity got the better of me,” he says over the phone to EL PAÍS. “They saw my work and noticed that I had also choreographed for fashion and film, and I imagine that openness to taking dance beyond the stage was what interested them.”

Seguir leyendo